Inmate and girlfriend indicted in alleged jail call fraud

John Bouraphael, 33, of Danville was indicted by a Rockingham County grand jury on a single count of identity fraud for impersonating a public defender. (JAMES A. KIMBLE/FILE PHOTO)

BRENTWOOD – A county jail inmate who is accused of impersonating a public defender so he could call an inmate at another jail was indicted along with his girlfriend for duping correctional officers using a three-way call, prosecutors said.

John Bouraphael, 33, of Danville and his girlfriend, Shayna Provencal, 24, of Andover, Mass. are facing identify fraud-related charges for calls made to the Merrimack County House of Corrections on June 1.

Bouraphael and Provencal are each facing a Class A felony, punishable by up to 7 ½ to 15 years in state prison, prosecutors said on Wednesday.

Bouraphael, now in state prison, claimed he was public defender Anthony Naro when he called inmate Jacob Palo to talk about their enterprise of strong arming fellow inmates out of their canteen goods, according to Assistant County Attorney Michael Zaino.

Bouraphael was being held as a pre-trial inmate at the Brentwood jail, awaiting trial on drug charges when he called Provencal, who dialed up the Concord jail, punching in extension numbers under the instruction of her boyfriend, according to indictments.

When a corrections officer answered the phone, Bouraphael said he was Naro, and recited the lawyer?s state bar identification number to verify his identity, the sheriff?s department said.

Investigators have not said how Bouraphael?s obtained the identification number, but such information is regularly listed by defense lawyers and prosecutors alike on court motions.

Corrections officials moved Palo to another jail once they learned about the inmate strong-arming, investigators said.

Rockingham County corrections Lt. David Consentino learned about the ruse on June 19 while reviewing recorded outgoing calls placed by inmates.

Palo, 36, of Concord is awaiting trial on a litany of charges stemming from a Deerfield home invasion and cross-county police chase. He is expected in court on Thursday for a hearing in his case.

He faces no new charges as a result of the sheriff?s department investigation.

Bouraphael began serving a 15-month-to-four year state prison sentence on Aug. 15 after pleading guilty to one count of sale of a controlled drug and five counts of being a felon in possession of a weapon for keeping several firearms.

The sheriff'?s Drug Task Force arrested Bouraphael last Dec. 21 at his home after an investigation into his alleged marijuana business.

His latest charge came to light after the state Department of Corrections flagged him as a candidate for work release.